Brunei
Trip Start
Jan 03, 2008
1
21
47
Trip End
Apr 27, 2008
Bandar Seri Begawan,
Brunei
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Today was another sea day. We celebrated George Washington's birthday with a formal dinner and got platters and Dutch tiles as mementos of our 100+ days of voyaging. We took it easy today, with a little exercise, a little bit of napping, and lots of reading. We are still on a north northwest course and moving into the South China Sea. The ocean is fairly shallow in some areas-80 meters or 240 feet-which is very different from the 5800 meter-depth in the south Australian Basin.
February 23, Saturday
Today is our third sea day in a row-and the last time for a while that we'll have so much "down" time. We will be in Brunei tomorrow (Sunday), Manila on Tuesday, and Hong Kong on Thursday and Friday. Then, next week, we will be in three ports in Vietnam on Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday, and in Singapore on Friday and Saturday. We'll see if we can keep up!
February 24, Sunday
Today we visited Brunei, a tiny little sultanate near Sarawak on the island of Borneo-I hadn't known of its existence before the trip. It was under British rule from around the time Britain was first in Borneo-looking to benefit from the coal resources there and ultimately benefiting from the enormous oil resources-though apparently, the Sultan has benefited even more since more efficient means of harvesting oil have been discovered since 1967, when he became sultan. We visited museums and got the chance to view the Sultan's gold chariots and gifts he has received from other heads of state, and also visited a raised village-where homes, shops, and even a school were built on stilts.
It's an efficient way of handling floods and monsoons, but not a very lovely way to live. The river was the color of your morning latte, with garbage floating alongside the water taxis waiting at the bottom of eroded concrete steps. We had tea and cookies in one of the homes in the water village, after playing dodge-boat on the way across the river-and got back to the pier the same way.
Nearly half the population of Bandar lives in the water village-no rent is needed to live in the village, but there is also no guarantee of a working water or sewer system. The centerpiece of Brunei is the Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque, named after the 28th Sultan of Brunei, which has an enormous gold-plated dome. That mosque was being repaired, so we visited the mosque of the 29th Sultan of Brunei-which also has lots of gold-plated adornment.
The contrast between the mosque and the water village speaks volumes. It looks as if only one family has really benefitted from the huge reserves of gas and oil here.
